Ferros

Alderac

The 'Final Battle'

21

MAR/14

The session began with the siege of the Silver City. The party attacked the walls, which were quite well defended. The Dwarves lost several units, but with the Slaughterstone Golems, the walls stood little chance. Even so, the magic of the defenders was strong and their tactics sound and with one casting of Iron Wall, they destroyed the SpellSeeker. For a round or two it looked like the defense might win the day. Heimdall had no choice, then, but to summon Jim Papadapolous who tore through the wall and the defenders. And, thanks to his spell resistance, was invulnerable to their efforts to banish him. With the titan and the SlaughterStone Golems, the walls fell and the Black Company entered the city.

They battled their way to the Grand Cathedral of Elohim, which was empty and dark. Three priests led the players toward Alderac’s chambers. In the Antechamber though, they found the way forward sealed. The Zohar itself sealed the door, and the key seemed to be two statues of a man and a woman. The players quickly discovered that brute force wouldn’t carry the day here, and while Heimdall was about to destroy the statues, Arcius and Obrican took a closer look and realized they were statues of the Favored Saints Kinover and Ligeria. Arcius took a chance and used stone to flesh on Ligeria and she returned to life, in full glory. He did the same for Kinover and together they healed the party and opened the way forward.

The saints revealed that when Alderac had been elected, Kinover had appeared to welcome the new Lucifer and carry Elohim’s instructions. But, due to the Cabal’s power, the saints hadn’t known that Alderac was who he was. And thus the Cabal ambushed and trapped Kinover in stone. To avoid breaking the connection to Elohim, Alderac used the Zohar to force Elohim’s power through to the church. Knowing that something had happened, Ligeria summoned up her church and attacked the Silver City. The Cabal was waiting for her as well, however, and trapped her in the same manner. The connection to Fallais was lost and the cultists retreated. Had the players destroyed the statues, they would have killed the two Saints with disastrous consequences. Kinover explained that he would take the Zohar away from mortal hands and also revealed that no miracle has ever been cast since the Great Seal’s existence, disappointing Heimdall. With that, the Saints left and the players entered Alderac’s chamber.

The fight began with Alderac’s monologe. He chastised them for damaging his plans and evading his trap and began the fight with pillars of light. Fortunately, Obrican had prepared them against it and Heimdall came in from the side with a Harm. Alderac was undaunted and crushed a soulgem, empowering him with negative energy. The battle continued, with each hit to the players dealing negative levels. But the battle was one-sided with Manny, Obrican, and Arcius all attacking at once, he stood no chance and fell in moments. The battle was over, until his evil spirit possessed Heimdall and split itself into five spirits. Had they recombined, who knows what would have happened. As it was, the players blundered their way through the battle, eventually destroying the evil spirits and obtaining his Key Crest, fancy hat, and magical staff. But, now what?